« Older Entries

The Number 1 Greatest Marketing Tip of All Marketing Tips!

All business owners should be continually searching for marketing tips to better their business. You might have a great system set up, and you know everything there is to know about your industry. This still doesn’t mean your business is going to be a success. It’s sad that is a reality for some business owners because they will never make it. They can get past this by either learning about how to promote or hire someone else to do it.

Out of all the strategies, tricks, and tips to make an effective marketing campaign, there is one thing that stands above the rest. The marketing tip of all marketing tips. Want to know what that is? It’s establishing your business apart from it’s competitors. It’s branding your message. It’s your unique selling proposition or USP.

Your unique selling proposition is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the very reason why people should buy from you and not someone else. What makes you special? What can you offer that every other company in your industry can’t? Why are you so different?

A lot of you are probably saying ‘oh well, we have a low price…‘ or perhaps ‘we provide the best quality…‘. Well I’ve got bad news for you. These things don’t matter to the public anymore. These exact differentiations have been used since the ’70s and buyers have already heard them a thousand times. So, you provide the lowest price…do they sell it at Wal-Mart?….Then, you don’t have a buyer anymore. We all know you can’t beat Wal-Mart’s prices.

You have to really grab the prospects attention with your USP. It has to be different…and I mean really different. The word unique is in the phrase. Be one of a kind. Things like integrity, loyalty, honesty, best service, most quality, longest time in business, and lowest price are all ineffective USPs in today’s market.

This is one of the greatest marketing tips you can hear. Sometimes finding the right USP can be very difficult though. It can take time until you find something absolutely perfect. Once you have it though, you wouldn’t believe how much more business you will get.

Ask yourself these questions to help find your USP:

  1. How is your product/service better or different then your competitors?
  2. What physical or emotional needs does your product/service supply?
  3. What is your ideal buyer (age, gender, demographic, etc) and what do they like?
  4. In what ways does your customer service excel?
  5. What is special about your staff?
  6. What do customers say about you?

These 6 questions will help you focus into the right USP. Once you have your USP created, you need to brand your company around that sentence. Not only do you need to create why you are different, you have to live it. Fulfill the promise you make with your USP and people will know why they should buy from you more then anyone else.

Tags:

Do Not Settle For The First Car Insurance Quote You Obtain

If you are shopping around for a new motor vehicle, your purchase need to go hand in hand with acquiring a car insurance quote. As soon as you drive your new vehicle off the dealership’s floor you are at risk of getting in an accident or you can be hijacked on your way home, consequently you have to have your car insurance policy in place previous to getting behind the controls of your car for the very first time.There are many variables that would influence the car insurance quote that you will obtain. Causes such as your age, gender and driving history are all examples of such variables. The price of the car in question will also play a role, as will the number of nominated drivers on the vehicle.Never settle for the first car insurance quote you receive. Try to contrast and compare as many quotes as possible – no less than three or five. In case you are uncertain about the terms and conditions associated with your policy, make certain to discuss this with your insurance agent or insurance broker prior to signing your contract.One of the points that may perhaps result in a lower car insurance quote is opting for a higher excess amount. An excess amount is essentially the difference between the price for repairing your vehicle and the amount that the insurance company is willing to pay. Say for instance you must repair your bumper after a small accident and the repair price is R10 000. The insurance company agrees to pay R8 000. Your excess amount (payable by you!) is then R2 000. The greater your voluntary excess amount, the lower your associated premiums (usually!). Just be careful that you do not pick such a high excess amount that you would not be in a position to honour the payment when it is time to put in a claim!Also keep in mind that your car insurance quote will typically only give you an indication of your first year’s premiums. An essential issue to remember is that your insurance premium is likely to increase on a yearly basis. You might be thinking that this is not making sense, as the value of your car is in fact decreasing year after year and thus the insurance providers’s subsequent risk is lower. On the one hand that is true, but remember that the cost for repairing your vehicle (parts and labour) increase every year and insurance firms have to cater for this increased cost by increasing your premiums.Often times an insurance business will provide a car insurance quote, but your insurance policy will only be activated as soon as you’ve taken your vehicle for an inspection. These inspections are necessary as insurance firms must make certain that you are not trying to insure a car with an existing problem and that all the security features (such as an alarm system, immobilizer etc) stipulated on the contract are indeed in place.Obtaining a car insurance quote is really not difficult. Research your options, compare a couple of quotations and make an informed decision.

Tags:

The Secret of El Salvador – Terrific Beaches Just Minutes From a Major Airport

If airlift is the key to the second home door, then El Salvador is the best bargain on the street. It may look like a fixer upper because of the country’s history with hurricanes, earthquakes, war and poverty but its main airport – now the hub of all of Central America soon will be hosting more than 2.5 million passengers a year – is 20 minutes from the region’s Costa del Sol and some of the finest beaches on the West Coast. If there is one single amenity that drives second half traffic it is waterfront property and El Salvador has 200 miles of Pacific Ocean coastline that few North Americans have ever seen, let alone researched for a real estate purchase.

El Salvador, from the Spanish word “The Savior”, is bordered by Guatemala on the west, by Honduras at the north, by Nicaragua and the Gulf of Fonseca on the East, and by the Pacific Ocean on the South. It is the smallest country in Central America, and has the highest density of population in the region and has the second largest U.S. Embassy in the world. The distance between San Salvador and neighbor capital cities of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua is about the same (4-hour drive). Approximately 70 percent of the regional commerce is concentrated in these four countries.

TACA International Airlines, owned by a Salvadorian family, operates about 65 percent of all the traffic in and out of the El Salvador International Airport also known as Comalapa International Airport. TACA, which is expanding its hub in El Salvador, provides non-stop service to San Salvador from Toronto, New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago and recently purchased a string of regional carriers that will provide additional flights within Central America and the Caribbean. Delta (Atlanta), United, Continental (Houston) and American also provide direct flights to the country’s capital city.

Compared to U.S. coastal communities, homes in El Salvador are an absolute bargain. For example, Joan Rich Mantecón, a San Francisco Bay-area Realtor who specializes in international second homes (www.internationaldwellings.com), had listed for sale a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home on the beach at Playa San Diego, south of La Libertad, in May, 2007. This fully air-conditioned house had been painted inside and out in 2004, had two swimming pools and Jacuzzi, a five-room servant-renter quarters, large gazebo for hammocks, outdoor BBQ and enough room to park five cars in the backyard. This property is 20 minutes away from the airport and also 20 minutes away from Santa Tecla where there is a Costco and various malls. There’s a seafood restaurant on the beach only steps away and the home’s caretakers live across the street. Price? $325,000.

Tags: